Falun Dafa Quarterly Volume 2

• In July, 1999 President Jiang Zemin, through the Bureau of Civil Affairs (an Administrative branch), declared Falun Gong to be an illegal organization. According to Articles 2, 80 and 81 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, only the National People's Congress has the ability to declare an organization illegal. The President does not possess such power. Yet, this executive order initiated the widespread crackdown against Falun Gong.

• In October, 1999, the National People's Congress passed a series of laws targetting "evil cults." Regarding these laws, a November 2, 1999, article from the Washington Post stated: "'When [China's Communist leaders] found themselves without the laws they need to vigorously persecute a peaceful meditation society, the Party simply ordered up some new laws. Now these will be applied -- retroactively." These laws were dictated by President Jiang Zemin, using the National People's Congress merely as a rubber stamp, which again overstepped the authority granted to the President by the Chinese constitution. Additionally, as the article stated, these laws were then applied retroactivly to prosecute Falun Gong practitioners and sentence them to prison terms, which is also an illegal action.

• Under orders from Jiang Zemin and others within the Administrative branch, the following articles of the Constitution have been violated in the process of implementing the crackdown against Falun Gong: Article 35 [Freedom of Expression], Article 36 [Religion], Article 37 [Personal Freedom], Article 38 [Personal Dignity], Article 39 [Home], Article 40 [Correspondance], Article 41 [Freedom of Speech], Article 53 [Obedience to the Constitution] and Article 54 [Integrity of Motherland].

• The pressure exerted by Jiang Zemin on various levels of the government have caused a number of illegal procedures to arise in implementing the crackdown against Falun Gong. For example, starting at the provincial level, a system of financial penalties have been enacted to punish locales where Falun Gong practitioners have peacefully demonstrated. As a recent Wall Street Journal article reported, "The fines were illegal; no law or regulation has ever been issued in writing that lists them. Officials say the policy was announced orally at government meetings. 'There was never to be anything in writing because they didn't want it made public,' says a member of the city's Political and Legal Commission.